Danica Patrick can’t handle a loose race car at Phoenix

Even though almost all the drivers outqualified Danica Patrick in Phoenix NASCAR still paraded her through the media center as a poster child. The sport has gone from the best drivers getting all the media attention to the prettiest

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Drivers know the fast way around a race track is with a slightly loose car. NASCAR's best drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin and the like are good at that.

Danica Patrick will start almost dead last in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix Sunday after becoming NASCAR's biggest star by winning the pole at Daytona. Danica starts just 40th in the 43-car field after a lap of 132.890 mph in qualifying, because her car was loose and she could not handle it. Like in IndyCar, she is good at the 100% throttle, car planted to the asphalt, tracks where you just have to turn the wheel about 2 degrees.

“It’s really disappointing. … It was just not a good qualifying effort, really not what I was looking for," Patrick said.

“I know how important it is on these short tracks to qualify well. We’re just going to have to come out of it like a bat out of hell at the beginning (of the race)."

“It just was loose," Patrick said. “I couldn’t turn the car. It took to the point where I got slowed down enough way wide in the corner before I could turn it.

“It was just too loose."